Today is World Press Freedom Day. It is a day to mourn the 64 journalists killed in 2003 - and some 27 world-wide this year. It is a day to join with the World Association of Newspapers in expressing solidarity and support for newspaper colleagues languishing in prison or prevented, in a hundred different ways, from simply doing their jobs.
And it is a day to take stock of the journalistic profession and its integral role in democracy in the interests of civic society, despite the decline in press standards in recent years.
A steering group of the press industry met the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, last Tuesday to present proposals for the setting up of a system of independent press regulation in Ireland. It recommended that an independent Press Ombudsman and Press Council should be established to regulate standards in the print media and to deal with complaints from citizens.
The steering group comprises representatives of the National Newspapers of Ireland, the National Union of Journalists, the Regional Newspapers Association of Ireland, the Periodical Publishers Association of Ireland and the Irish editions of UK newspapers. They have come together for the first time in recent months to try to find a consensus response to the Minister's proposals for changes in the defamation law during the term of this Government.
The Report of the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation, published a year ago, clearly envisaged the establishment of a statutory, Government-controlled Press Council as the quid pro quo for any amendment to the libel law. The threat of State interference in the independence of newspapers galvanised the industry into action. There is now an acceptance for the first time that a Press Ombudsman and Press Council should be set up for their own sake.
The proposals are now on the Minister's desk. They envisage that an independent Press Ombudsman would deal with the majority of cases from the public, making determinations where necessary. Parties dissatisfied with the decisions of the Ombudsman would refer their case to the Press Council. The Council would comprise nine people, a majority reflective of the interests of the public rather than the industry. Both the Ombudsman and the Council would adjudicate on breaches of an agreed code of standards for journalism. And the press industry, made up of its constituent parts, has agreed that it would fund the proposed system of independent regulation. Freedom of the press must be safeguarded.